Zoetis Foundation brings grant to poultry & livestock farmers in Eastern India

In India, the money goes to Heifer International, which will use it to run what the Foundation is calling the Community Agro Vet Entrepreneurs Program. The plan is to build up a network of community-level para-veterinary workers who can serve smallholder farmers keeping poultry, goats and cattle in areas where a qualified vet is not always close by.

The stated aim is simple: better animal health, better productivity, and over time, better income for the farming households involved.

Ashwini Deshpande, Managing Director for Zoetis India and Regional Director for India, Indonesia and South Asia, welcomed the news, noting how encouraging it was to see the country included among this year’s grantees.

Ashwini Deshpande

Stephanie Armstrong, a veterinarian by training and Zoetis’s Regional President for Asia-Pacific and Africa, pointed to the value that veterinary professionals and livestock farmers add to the communities around them, and said it was encouraging to watch the Foundation’s work expand further across the region, with the new grants in Japan and India among the latest examples.

Stephanie Armstrong

Three other countries, three different needs

The India grant is one of four announced together. In Japan, the Japan Veterinary Medical Association will use its grant to give veterinary students hands-on clinical experience during academic breaks, working alongside Tokyo-area universities and clinics, with an eye on building up the next generation of livestock and companion-animal vets.

In Canada, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association will use its grant to expand mental health support for vets and vet students, including an online platform, a call service, peer support, and a directory of mental health professionals familiar with the pressures of veterinary work.

In Mexico, a second grant to Heifer International will fund regional learning hubs and technical assistance for cattle farmers in Oaxaca, with a focus on productivity, animal welfare and environmental practices.

Five years, USD 35 million, 71 countries

According to Zoetis, the Foundation has now disbursed USD 35 million in grants since 2021, reaching 71 countries through 118 grant initiatives, spread across its three focus areas of education, well-being and livelihoods.

Jeannette Ferran Astorga, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer at Zoetis, and President of the Zoetis Foundation, said the new grants reflect the company’s commitment to those who care for animals, and its intent to keep widening that support to new countries and new organisations.

Jeannette Ferran Astorga

For India’s poultry sector, where access to trained veterinary support remains uneven outside the major production hubs, a grant aimed specifically at community-level para-veterinary services for poultry, alongside goats and cattle, is a small but notable addition to the resources available to smallholder farmers in the eastern states.